Sinks have been installed in household and commercial kitchens, laundries, photography darkrooms, hospitals, etc. for many years. Sinks commonly have one or more bowl portions to contain water or other liquid and a flat, generally horizontal mounting flange portion around the periphery of the upper portion of the sink assembly. Such flanges often interact with a countertop and hold the sink in place. Additionally, in the mounting flange, two holes (FIG. 1 holes 12a, 12b) having a diameter of about 1.5 inches are commonly formed for installation of a faucet set having separate hot and cold water service. Such faucet sets at a minimum, comprise one valve or one valve each for hot and cold water and a spout conveying hot, cold or mixed hot/cold water into the sink or bowl. Such mounting flanges typically also have a central hole (see FIG. 1, hole 12c) midway between the hot and cold service holes. The faucet can also contain other optional components that if present must be dealt with in installation. The faucet set is mounted on a flange typically using a sealing or leak preventing gasket between the sink mounting flange and the faucet set base. The faucet set is held in place by attachment means typically wing nuts threaded onto a threaded mating surface on both the hot and cold water intake ports. As the nuts are tightened, the gasket is compressed. Such a gasket is designed to seal the joint between the faucet set and the flange to ensure that no water can leak through the mounting holes into the space below the sink. Any such water leak can cause rust in ferrous metal members and can ruin any water sensitive item stored below the sink and can cause rot or other disintegration of wooden members in the sink area or counter assembly.
The faucet set as installed is secure against leaks through the seal formed by the gasket. However, when in use, water can begin to leak through the portion of the faucet set or sink even when a gasket is used. Such leaks occur because, as the faucet, spout and valves are manipulated, the sink mounting flange can flex. Such flexing can cause a gap to appear between the faucet set and gasket and can cause a second gap between the gasket and sink flange. Such a flexed flange can provide one or more paths for water to leak from the sink region into the cabinetry below the sink. Such loosening of the faucet set is more common in sinks having a relatively thin gauge metal ((i.e.)typically 23-20 gauge, about 0.7 mm to 0.9 mm, stainless steel) in the flange because flex in the flange occurs to a greater degree in thin gauge metal. More robust sinks made of thicker gauge material (20-17 gauge, about 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm) are somewhat more resistant to flex generated water leaks. However, any sink location depending on use and installation can have substantial loosening and leak occurrence depending on timing and severity of use.
Accordingly, a substantial need exists to provide a sink flange stiffener device that can reduce the tendency of such faucet set installations on sink flanges to leak when installed on flexible flanges.